The more essential the food, the more closely

it was regulated. The more lucrative a guilds

activities, the more likely it was that one guild
might be tempted to infringe on another.
Each guild fought to protect its individual
rights. There were several cases brought before
judges to determine if one guilds activities
had crossed the line into anothers.
When the French Revolution began in
1789, the upheaval in noble households was
enormous. Noblemen left France to escape
the guillotine, leaving their household staffs
to look out for themselves. The garde manger,
as well as chefs and cooks, were household
employees, and as such did not have a formal
guild of their own. These workers found their
way into restaurants in increasing numbers
throughout Europe and the British Isles.
At fi rst there was no widely recognized
structure for kitchen workers. There were no
established duties or areas of specialization.
It took several years before a serious attempt
was made to organize kitchen workers.
Eventually the brigade system, recorded by
Auguste Escoffi er, detailed a logical chain of
command that brought order to the unruly
working arrangements of his day. We still use
the brigade system and refer to the various
stations in the kitchen with the names assigned
by Escoffi er: saucier, rtisseur, ptissier,
and garde manger.
When the guild system was offi cially abolished

in 1791, some members of the charcutiers

guild also joined the ranks of restaurant
and hotel kitchen garde manger staffs. Others
continued to operate their businesses as
before. The positions of charcutier and garde
manger have always been closely linked, since
they are both founded on cold preserved
foods. When the term garde manger is used
today, it is often understood to include the
work of the charcutier as well.
The more essential the food, the more closely
it was regulated. The more lucrative a guilds
activities, the more likely it was that one guild
might be tempted to infringe on another.
Each guild fought to protect its individual
rights. There were several cases brought before
judges to determine if one guilds activities
had crossed the line into anothers.
When the French Revolution began in
1789, the upheaval in noble households was
enormous. Noblemen left France to escape
the guillotine, leaving their household staffs
to look out for themselves. The garde manger,
as well as chefs and cooks, were household
employees, and as such did not have a formal
guild of their own. These workers found their
way into restaurants in increasing numbers
throughout Europe and the British Isles.
At fi rst there was no widely recognized
structure for kitchen workers. There were no
established duties or areas of specialization.
restaurants and the role of

The position of garde manger, recast in a

restaurant setting, has retained its traditions
of preparing a variety of preserved and
cold foods. It has also expanded its scope
to include appetizers, hors doeuvre, salads,
sandwiches, and the accompanying cold
sauces and condiments. The garde manger
is involved in la carte service as well as
banquets, receptions, buffets, and off-site
catering.
The techniques required to prepare pts,
terrines, sausages, and fresh cheeses are the
particular domain of the garde manger. However,
becoming a skilled garde manger also
means learning a broad base of culinary skills,
those directly related to handling basic cold
food preparations as well as those required
to prepare hot foods: roasting, poaching,
simmering, and sauting meats, fi sh, poultry,
vegetables, grains, and legumes.
It is precisely because the skills and
responsibilities are so broad that many of
todays most highly regarded chefs got their
start in the garde manger as apprentices or
commis. In addition, recent years have seen
a rebirth of the more traditional practices of
charcuterie and cheese making by purveyors
with retail shops and wholesale businesses.
Handcrafted foods such as country-style
hams, sausages, pts, and fresh and aged
cheeses are increasingly available to both the
restaurant chef and the home cook.

establishments
Hotels, full-service restaurants, and private
clubs that offer la carte menus may have
one or more people working exclusively in
the area of garde manger, though the specifi c
name of this area varies from place to place.
Some operations refer to it as the pantry,
others may call it the salad station, still others
the cold side, and so on. The specifi c duties of
this station can include cold sauces and soups,
salads, hors doeuvre, and canaps.
During la carte service, the garde manger
typically plates salads and cold appetizers,
and may also be responsible for plating
desserts. The breakfast, lunch, and brunch
menus often rely heavily upon the garde
manger as well.
Cooks and chefs working in banquet and
catering operations practice all the same basic

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